How Competitive Are You When Golfing?

[dagolfer18]

How competitive are you and your playing partners when y’all go out for a round? Do you put anything on the line? Money? Dinner? Personally, my dad and I are very competitive when we play. We normally shoot within five strokes of each other, and a good day, we’ll both shoot around 90. However, on a very good day, my dad will go out and probably go low. He’s got the ability to go out on a relatively difficult course and shoot low 80s/high 70s. He once shot a 79 from the blue tees of our local country club course. It’s fun to watch him play when he’s on fire. Anyway, when we go out for a round, whether it’s him and me or our full foursome, we normally put something on the line to put pressure on ourselves. We’ll set the stakes before the round. We don’t bet money, but we bet drinks or small snacks. Loser buys. Normally we’ll go with a sweet tea from Bojangles ($1.29), but occasionally we’ll set the stakes higher by making it Starbucks ($4-$7). The total amount never reaches double digits, but it’s a good way to put pressure on a match. Our most recent competitive round was about two weeks ago. He beat me by two strokes, and this time, I had to do 50 push-ups in a row. Oh, if you don’t bet money, just put your choice for #3 as <$10.

Edited January 13, 2020 by dagolfer18

[David in FL]

Extremely competitive.

Golf, like pool, was made to be played for at least something.   

Our normal game is a five dollar Nassau with automatic two down presses. But, we normally play as a fivesome with one pair taking on the other three as 3 separate pairs.  That means that the twosome “taking on the world“ is playing three games simultaneously, while the other three players are each playing two games simultaneously.

Depending on your day, it’s equally likely that you will win or lose well over $100 or simply break even…

It might sound like a lot, but we change who “takes on the world“ each time and are all pretty well matched. Over the course of the year, nobody gets too beat up, nor does anyone get rich.

 

[Club Rat]

I voted very completive, simply because I enjoy the challenge of playing all golf courses.
I strive to hit good shots, make as many pars or better and mostly enjoy when good shots are at the targets.
Betting is fun, win, lose or draw, having a wager on a round with friends will help anyone's game, IMO.

My friends at the club have given me the nickname "Stiggy"
Stiggy has many friends who have contributed to his retirement fund over the years …  😏
 

 

[boogielicious]

Somewhat competitive. We play for either drinks for $5 per round and sometimes a $5 Nassau. In my league, one guy likes to play per hole. We skip holes that are tied.

[dennyjones]

We don't bet much.  $1 for birdies, $1 for closest to the pin and $1 for our version of Stableford points.

[mcanadiens]

We're not very competitive.

Our normal game is a quota game. Everyone forks over $10. We use Stableford scoring and you got to beat a number that is based on your handicap adjusted up or down for the relative success you've had in prior games. The pot gets split up based on how many people exceeded quota and by how much.

Generally, everyone in a group likes to see his fellow players do well. 

[Cantankerish]

Only with myself.

[HJJ003]

Me and Colonel Bogey have had quite the competitions in our day. He is the favorite unfortunately. 

[Groucho Valentine]

The only time im not playing competitively (either for money or competition) is when i play 9 holes after work or something. So id say im very competitive with golf. My money games are usually pocket change type stuff. 30-40 bucks here and there. About as serious as i get with money games these days is a $20 Nassau. Which could get expensive with presses. But usually not. I was playing with a guy last year that lost over $100 on snake on the last green, which was one of the most hilarious things ive ever witnessed in my 25 years of playing golf. 

[iacas]

Can't really answer the poll as it completely depends on who I'm playing with, etc.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Can't really answer the poll as it completely depends on who I'm playing with, etc.

I was just about to type that. 

[jamo]

I very rarely play for anything.

[phillyk]

It depends who I play with, but if it's someone with a handicap close to mine, I usually try to play for something just to make it interesting.  After club tournaments, we try to do an extra set of holes with a bigger group of guys, ranging from 4 to 9 guys all playing together (usually at like 5pm so there's really no one else out).  We play some sort of best ball or scramble for some cash.  It's more fun with higher numbers of guys.

It's hard for me to rate how competitive others are golfing, but for me, I'm always competitive.

[ncates00]

I rarely play for things.  However, I always try to beat Old Man par; beating my playing partners is merely a welcome byproduct.  

[p1n9183]

Average competitive. I always what to beat my average score, if i do i´m glad, if i don´t it doesn´t matter, i´m already happy that i played. 

I really don´t care scoring better than my playing partners or winning tournaments, i´m really focused on improving my game and as i said, beating myself. 

[JGH65]

I usually don’t tend to get too competitive when playing with other people, especially friends. Maybe the occasional match play round for bragging rights or something like that.
 

[pganapathy]

Reasonably competitive I guess.  If people are willing to bet I will too.  Generally not very high stakes.  Five to ten dollars (with the exchange rate it is worth a bit more in India) keeps us interested enough to care, but not enough that we get too tense.  It encourages you to focus.

[Mr22putt]

I'm competitive...hate to lose...play for some small bucks with a limited # of guys.

I also hate to shoot 80+.